1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle door hinge device that supports a door for opening and closing a door opening or a tail gate of an automobile or the like, specifically, a checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle, comprising: a first bracket fixed to one of a body and a door; a second bracket fixed to another one of the body and the door; a hinge pin connecting the first and second brackets to each other, and allowing the brackets to be relatively rotatable; an inner cylinder connected integrally to the first bracket and disposed coaxially with the hinge pin; an outer cylinder connected integrally to the second bracket and disposed so as to surround the inner cylinder in a manner of being rotatable relative to the inner cylinder; and a checking-force generating mechanism provided between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder, the checking-force generating mechanism generating a checking force against the door at a predetermined opening position for the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle has already been known as disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,056.
In the conventional checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle, a checking-force generating mechanism includes a retainer, detent rollers, a coil spring, a plurality of detent grooves. The retainer is attached to an outer cylinder, and rotates along with the outer cylinder. The detent rollers are supported by the retainer, and capable of rolling on the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder. The coil spring is wound around the detent rollers and generates an elastic recoil force in the radial direction to urge each of the detent rollers towards the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder. The detent grooves are provided in the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder so as to be arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction while extending in the axial direction of the inner cylinder. The detent rollers are engaged with, and disengaged from, the detent grooves in association with the relative rotations of the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder. In any cases, in such conventional checker-equipped door hinge device for vehicle, since the checking-force generating mechanism is provided between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder, across the circumferences of these cylinders, the entire diameter of the checker-equipped door hinge device is inevitably increased. As a result, a problem may possibly occur that such door hinge device is difficult to arrange in a narrow and small space between the body and the door of an automobile.